How do you guys have your pc power switch set up?

[tophatne1]

I want to turn on my pc from the control panel. I don't want to have to go into the cabinet and press the power button every time I want to power it up.

How would I go about doing this?

I have a dell Dimension 8300


Thanks!

[jhabers]

This is the switch Im getting (this one is pre wires, im gonna wire my own to save some money). This will plug right into your motherboard.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6273/ele-302/Prewired_Bulgin_Vandal_Power_Switch_w_LED.html

Im then going to use a smart strip so that when I power up my PC everything else powers up and then when I shut it down everything else shuts off as well. 1 switch for everything

[javeryh]

I rewired the computer power button to an easy to reach location.  It works great!   

[Orclord]

I used  the UK equivalent of the Smart Strip and have the PC as master....

I cut the leads off of the back of the PC on button and extended them to a button on the CP.....

Then found out with having 2 cats this was a crap idea.....

It now resides behind the coin door........

[milhouse]

I cut the lead off the motherboard and extended and connected it to an Ultimarc Ultralux button just below my monitor.  Inside the cab I have a smart strip to take care of the monitor.  Works great.

[brock.sampson]

Most likely that 8300 has a remote board that the power switch is mounted on that goes back to the mobo via a ribbon cable.  I have a precision workstaion with the same kind of setup.  I'm going to try and trace the switch lines and tap into the ribbon cable so I can have a remote switch.  If you beat me to it let me know how it turns out.

[severdhed]

i extended the wires on the pc power switch and connected them to an arcade pushbutton on the top of the cabinet, it works great.  plugged the pc into the craftsman auto switch so everything else turns on with the PC. Although i also have problems with my cats turning my cabinet on.

[Fozzy The Bear]

plugged the pc into the craftsman auto switch so everything else turns on with the PC. Although i also have problems with my cats turning my cabinet on.

There is a very easy fix for this problem...  Before leaving the house, tie the cats feet together and they can't climb up on the control panel. 

For even more CP security, tie the left rear leg of cat number1 to the right front leg of cat number 2, and before going out attach some cat nibbles to the right rear leg of cat number two. By the time you get home they will be so tied in knots trying to get the food that they will have ignored your CP altogether 

AND whatever you do don't leave any drilling equipment in the house, or both cats will be behind the sofa drilling for oil before you get back!!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Minwah]

i extended the wires on the pc power switch and connected them to an arcade pushbutton on the top of the cabinet, it works great. 

I did this too, works well.

[Ginsu Victim]

I just have mine set in the bios to turn on (Restore after failure) when I flip the switch on the power strip.

[FrizzleFried]

I simply extended the switch from a cheap power strip to the top of my cab... I plugged the cab (monitor, marquee, etc) in to it as well as the PC.  Set the PC to "start on power up" and you are good to go.  With the flick of a switch everything comes on.

I did that on two cabs... on my juke cab I used a smart power strip and extended the power switch from the PC...when the PC turns on it turns on everything else including an amp about 10 feet away.

[Kangum]

i wired a standard happ pushbutton under the control panel. holding the button down for 5 seconds turns my machine on or turns it off. i believe in the motherboard settings its called soft off.

[waveryder]

I just set my PC to restart on power failure in the bios. That way when I switch on the cab the whole thing starts up.

[Kaytrim]

I used the information at this website to hack my own smart strip.  http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/01/index81.htm  Then extended the power button from my computer to a Happ button on the outside of the cab.

[Fozzy The Bear]

AND whatever you do don't leave any drilling equipment in the house, or both cats will be behind the sofa drilling for oil before you get back!!

HERE'S THE PROOF!!!!  The truth about evil cats that everybody should know!

I thought everybody knew that you only get one of them purring to disguise the fact that the other one is behind the sofa drilling for oil!! See the attached expose picture!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[CrazyKongFan]

Right now I just have a power strip inside the PC, reachable by the open back door. I'd like to wire it up to the toggle switch on the back of the cabinet though (the normal on/off switch), and maybe wire a push button to the front for the PC bootup, using an existing security bolt hole (like I did with my coin 1/coin 2 switches). I don't have to worry about a cat pushing it or anything. It's in the basement and I don't let her down there I don't need it to shut down, I use CTRL/ESC to bring up the shutodown menu on my CP (I have an ESC admin button, and one of the player buttons as CTRL), so I just shut it down that way every time.

[Paul Olson]

I did mine just like severedhed did, and I think it is a great solution. The cat is not allowed in the room since he jumped inside the cab through an open coin door.  At least I got him out of there before he could mess anything up in there; I mean before he got hurt. 

[remal]

I don't have a power button.

I have my PC BIOS set to power-on with any key press on keyboard, the PC, LCD, Speakers, all  conncted to a smartstrip like switch (by craftsman), and that is connected to a APC UPS 500.

XP is set to suspend (S3), and it wakes up when someone touch any part of the control panel, in about 20 seconds.

[joshlindem]

Here's a pretty simple solution so that as soon as the PC recognizes power (ie: power strip turns on) the computer will boot up.

 Power up of the MAME cab PC

Most ATX motherboards work in the same way, you don't have to have a separate switch or complex circuits to power on the pc, All you have to do is power on your mame cab and use a temp switch on the motherboard "atx power switch" to power it on for the first time after that switch the Cab of at the wall and remove the temp switch. The next time you power the system up at the wall socket the PC should power up automatically. If  your system didn't power up automatically you can short together two wires on the PSU, The GREEN wire (Sense PS ON) and BLACK ground OV. You can use any of the black wires because they all go to the PSU ground or OV but it is best and easy to use the BLACK wire next to the GREEN wire.

Warning!! Do Not attempt to short any other wires together or it will result in permanent damage.

Found here http://www.arcade-emulator.co.uk/hardware.html

[Bluedeath]

if the mobo doesnt have the feature "status after power loss"  put a capacitor (220nanofarad 16V if I member correctly) on the power switch (chech the polarity with a tester) should do the trick, be careful anyway not to burn anything

[Fozzy The Bear]

if the mobo doesnt have the feature "status after power loss"  put a capacitor (220nanofarad 16V if I member correctly) on the power switch (chech the polarity with a tester) should do the trick, be careful anyway not to burn anything

Don't get that one..... What are you trying to achieve with it??

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Bluedeath]

when the ATX PSU get power the pc will start, the capacitor tricks the mobo making it believe that the power button has been pressed. If the mobo BIOS has the function "status after power loss" this is not needed.

[javeryh]

Do many computers not support powering on and off with the press of a power button?  Wouldn't rewiring the computer power button to a pushbutton on the outside of the cabinet and plugging everything into a smartstrip-like device (speakers, monitor, marquee light, etc.) be the easiest thing to do?

[HaRuMaN]

I'd like to get this button and modify it to be the power switch...

Doomsday Button

[Sarcastro]

I have the doomsday button wired for my cab now I am still building the cab so i will have to post pics this weekend.  Wiring the button was strange becasue it requires power so I hooked it up to a powered usb hub and cut the wire that goes to the speaker internally and wired that to the PC works great.  I have a hidden panel in the side of my cab which flips down when you press the corner.  I thought about wiring two to a circuit so you would have the turn the keys simultaneously like a missile silo but then i would never be able to play by myself.

[milhouse]

Wouldn't rewiring the computer power button to a pushbutton on the outside of the cabinet and plugging everything into a smartstrip-like device (speakers, monitor, marquee light, etc.) be the easiest thing to do?

Yes.  Thats what I did.  I think it cost a total of $40 including the smart strip, an Ulatrlux Pushbutton and six feet of 22 gauge wire.  And it took about 10 minutes.

[Fozzy The Bear]

when the ATX PSU get power the pc will start, the capacitor tricks the mobo making it believe that the power button has been pressed. If the mobo BIOS has the function "status after power loss" this is not needed.

Right.... I see what you're trying to achieve, but it won't work on 99% of MOBO's.....  In most cases having that cap across the start switch will either shut the mobo down, or put it into standby after a few seconds.

What you actually need is to use non latching relay to kick the start switch when the mains is applied, and then to drop out, leaving the machine running. Wiring that would be quite easy to do.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[javeryh]

Wouldn't rewiring the computer power button to a pushbutton on the outside of the cabinet and plugging everything into a smartstrip-like device (speakers, monitor, marquee light, etc.) be the easiest thing to do?

Yes.  Thats what I did.  I think it cost a total of $40 including the smart strip, an Ulatrlux Pushbutton and six feet of 22 gauge wire.  And it took about 10 minutes.

I know - I think it's also the best way to do it if you aren't familiar with the inner workings of a PC or the connections on your motherboard.  It's one of those things that if I can do it anyone can.   

[joshlindem]

Did anyone look at or try my suggestion?  All it requires is one simple wire, not even $0.01.

Most ATX motherboards work in the same way, you don't have to have a separate switch or complex circuits to power on the pc, All you have to do is power on your mame cab and use a temp switch on the motherboard "atx power switch" to power it on for the first time after that switch the Cab of at the wall and remove the temp switch. The next time you power the system up at the wall socket the PC should power up automatically. If  your system didn't power up automatically you can short together two wires on the PSU, The GREEN wire (Sense PS ON) and BLACK ground OV. You can use any of the black wires because they all go to the PSU ground or OV but it is best and easy to use the BLACK wire next to the GREEN wire.

Warning!! Do Not attempt to short any other wires together or it will result in permanent damage.
Found here http://www.arcade-emulator.co.uk/hardware.html

[Bluedeath]

when the ATX PSU get power the pc will start, the capacitor tricks the mobo making it believe that the power button has been pressed. If the mobo BIOS has the function "status after power loss" this is not needed.

Right.... I see what you're trying to achieve, but it won't work on 99% of MOBO's.....  In most cases having that cap across the start switch will either shut the mobo down, or put it into standby after a few seconds.

What you actually need is to use non latching relay to kick the start switch when the mains is applied, and then to drop out, leaving the machine running. Wiring that would be quite easy to do.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

Maybe i just have very lucky friends (the trick was tod to me by a trusted source) but now that i discovered the Green wire version i think that will be easyer, if it doesnt work  you'll be the first one that will hear my cry for help  .

[theburge]

I have my BIOS set to power up the computer on any keyboard press.  It works great for the moment... but I don't have my marquee light wired in and my speakers/monitor are always "on" for this to work.  I'll be tweaking it a bit more as time goes on.

[tophatne1]

Most likely that 8300 has a remote board that the power switch is mounted on that goes back to the mobo via a ribbon cable.  I have a precision workstaion with the same kind of setup.  I'm going to try and trace the switch lines and tap into the ribbon cable so I can have a remote switch.  If you beat me to it let me know how it turns out.

I was just going over this yesterday and I think I'm going to try and tap into the ribbon cable.

If it works I'll let you know.

[MPTech]

Everything is plugged into a Smartstrip and the power button is connected to the Coin Return.
When I want to turn the cab on I hit the coin Return and the whole thing starts up!

[danny_galaga]

when the ATX PSU get power the pc will start, the capacitor tricks the mobo making it believe that the power button has been pressed. If the mobo BIOS has the function "status after power loss" this is not needed.

Right.... I see what you're trying to achieve, but it won't work on 99% of MOBO's.....  In most cases having that cap across the start switch will either shut the mobo down, or put it into standby after a few seconds.

What you actually need is to use non latching relay to kick the start switch when the mains is applied, and then to drop out, leaving the machine running. Wiring that would be quite easy to do.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

it definitely works, ask peale (",)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=19304.msg158474#msg158474

my solution (we both wanted the power to come on without holding a button down) was to use a relay, but the cap is much simpler...

[SirPeale]

http://www.pealefamily.net/tech/captrick/

[SirPeale]

Right.... I see what you're trying to achieve, but it won't work on 99% of MOBO's.....  In most cases having that cap across the start switch will either shut the mobo down, or put it into standby after a few seconds.

From my site:

"A capacitor's discharged state is shorted. When you apply power to the unit,
the cap acts as a short between the pins, activating the power supply.

With 5V flowing through the cap, it's shorted state becomes an open state,
allowing the board to boot normally.

When you power down the unit, the capacitor will discharge, and resume its shorted
state, allowing it to do this the next time you power up."

I've done this several times now with no problems.

[Fozzy The Bear]

I've done this several times now with no problems.

Yes.... I understood the theory.... The thing is it will only work on older hardware, with effectively higher trigger current. The newer mobo's will take exception to it an think that the switch is constantly pressed. Thus enabling their power off function or standby function after the cap is fully charged. Unless there's an option to shut that off in the bios....... I guess that a larger electro cap might (I say might) solve that on newer mobo's.

I won't have chance to test cap sizes out for about a week.... I'm off to the in-laws today 

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[SirPeale]

I haven't had the opportunity to test it on a new motherboard.  Logic dictates that you'd want a smaller cap, not a larger one.  You want it to short just for a moment, then open.